Back in the day, not to be confused with the good old days, we used notebooks made from paper to record our thoughts, notes, plans and any other important details. Nowadays all of this is done via your phone, tablet and computer and I for one am much happier for it. There’s a litany of choices for note-taking apps with some coming built into your device. One important criterion for this list is that the app should be available on at least Windows, Apple and Android for a cross-platform experience. Let’s look at the best note-taking apps out there right now and see what makes them great.
EverNote
If standards are being set in the digital note-taking world then EverNote is setting those standards. Still, by some margin the best note-taking app in the world as it allows various formats including video and audio. It also has great functionality when it comes to reminders, you can create your reminders within the app no need to look at your calendar. With many cutting edge options such as web clipping and the ability to annotate clipped web pages, it’s hard to look past Evernote for anything. The app also handily syncs your work across all devices that it’s installed on so you could start a task on your phone, pick it up on your tablet then complete it on your computer.
OneNote
My personal favourite note-taking app I was introduced to it weirdly. I was drawn to the fact that it autosaved all work as I was in a place that was battling with power issues. Then OneNote became a mobile app and has never looked back. The biggest plus for it is being built into Windows and having a simple mobile app for other platforms. If you have a Windows account it automatically stores your OneNote files to the cloud through OneDrive. It has other useful features like embedding video, password protection and biometric locking. It has the familiar feel of Microsoft Word and Excel to it.
Dropbox Paper
While the two I’ve just mentioned are best in class in notetaking you may have needs that are centred around collaborating with team members. Not uncommon with remote working arrangements on the up. Dropbox Paper is the best notetaking app for those circumstances. It opens you up to easier collaboration allowing team members to add and edit content but there’s more. You can annotate specific parts of pages, even attachments such as images and videos. You can integrate it with your calendar to help you find meeting notes and minutes faster. It integrates very well with other services and of course Dropbox storage. Dropbox Paper is available on iOS and Android and accessible on Windows machines through the browser.
SimpleNote
If you’re not quite the type of person who enjoys organising notebooks, sections and pages like the aforementioned apps involve then SimpleNote might be the one for you. Simple Note as the name suggests is a simplified approach to the note-taking app. No cluttered interface, just open and take notes. It organises your notes through tags and pins rather than the way the others approach them. This means you can find all your notes related to a specific subject with one search. The app allows for collaboration and sharing of notes. It is available on Windows, iOS, Android, macOS and even Linux.
Zoho Notebook
Zoho notebook has an interesting approach to organising your notes. Your text, drawing, audio and video notes are different so why should they all be managed as the same thing? Zoho uses a colour coding system that differentiates types of notes visually by colour. It uses a card-based design to keep to the visual focus. You can add complete files to cards in Zoho. It also has an interesting gesture control feature that means you can use actions like pinch to group notes. It is currently available on iOS, Android, macOS and web browsers.
A few honourable mentions should be handed out to Apple notes (built into iOS devices), Google Keep and Notion which provide solid experiences as well.
